A Blog About Making Culture
learning from experience
June 27, 2004
One of the things I've learned of late is that, despite being a wonderful, generous community of truly warm-hearted people, sometimes the blog world likes nothing more than a good old-fashioned pile-on.
I thought about this looking at the (totally justified) hard time that Cory gave Fast Company over their dumb linking policy. If you look at the conversation, people act as if some lawyer gleefully rubbed his hands together and said, "How do we get this periodical to be an isolated island of unlinked misery on the web?" I'm guessing that's not the case.
Keep in mind, Fast Company is an organization that's smart enough to have a homepage that damn near validates as XHTML. They've had a real, honest-to-god weblog with comments running longer than almost any magazine. They even send Heath (and his amazing transcription skills) to various conferences so that people who can't attend can get a lot of the benefits of attendance for free on the web. In short, they're surprisingly clueful, especially for a mainstream business/general interest magazine. But people are assailing this part of their site's terms of service as if it were a concerted effort to be evil.
For Cory's part, I'm not criticizing his post about this topic at all. Cory's mandates are the openness of information, fighting the tyranny of bad law, and encouraging the free sharing of information. And he's doing what I do a lot, bitching about something that sucks, particularly appropriate as this is his bailiwick. I think I've got pretty good credentials for defending Cory's right to write about whatever he wants. But still, the reaction incited is one that's unproductive at best and unkind at worst.
Since I hate to complain without offering a solution, what I'd like to do is propose a new model for responding to the blogosphere's frequent and characteristic calls to action against Stuff That Sucks. First, read the link. Don't go being a slashdot flameboy. Read the thing that's being linked to. Second, we're good at collectively ferreting out information, so let's find the person responsible. There can't be that many people responsible for a terms of service document at a publishing company, and it's easier to get a revision made if we know who's going to do it.
There's a human benefit to finding out the person responsible, in helping to understand their circumstances and constraints. In almost all of these situations, there's someone who had to compromise for reasons that are totally reasonable. Maybe the guy writing this stuff was tired of fighting with his boss over it, and didn't have hundreds of emails from bloggers who'd back up his position. Maybe the woman who put this in place intended to fix it as soon as she got back from maternity leave, and figured who's gonna read a TOS document that closely anyway? Not all of us are lucky enough to have our licenses fisked by our audience.
So, once you've got information on what's actually happening, know who's responsible, and understood why they might have made this mistake, you've got what you need to make a change. We're bloggers, that means we self-organize pretty well. Be the person who starts the petition or explains how to contact the decision makers and provides a useful, non-confrontational template for how to get in touch with them. Provide a place where everyone concerned about the issue can TrackBack their complains, along with specific suggestions. (I can't take credit for that one, Mena nailed that idea.) And, believe me, people will read that feedback. Especially since it'll be the first Google result for either (1) their company name or (2) their name within a few days.
And then? Follow up. They'll make changes, as quickly as they can, though in most organizations that's not all that fast. Keep in mind, you're adding a task to their list that they didn't anticipate, and they probably already have a day job. My last request, though I suspect it's not likely to be adopted, is that people acknowledge the change when it happens. From personal experience, you can usually find about a ten-to-one ratio of complaints to acknowledgements of an improvement, in the best case. If you are the one on the receiving end and you get one tenth as much kudos as complaints, consider your work a success.
Now, all my blog posts are under a Creative Commons license, but this seems one of those ideas that can definitely be refined and expanded into a specific set of plans for action by the weblog community on almost any issue. So this post is completely public domain, and I hope you guys help direct all the energy of the various weblog communities into positive action more often.
I'd suggest a few things off the bat:
- A PowerPoint plan of action so that executives or non-tech people can see how to use blogs for positive action
- A how-to so that non-profits and other social organizations can leverage blogs for their campaigns
- Some background documentation on the types of results bloggers have had (with everything from Trent Lott to the Star Wars Kid as examples)
- A place to collect personal testimonials from people who've benefitted from blogger-inspired campaigns or who've changed their work or changed their ways due to input from the blogosphere
I'm proud of what we've done in creating so many different weblog communities, and I don't want our legacy to be one of having the positives overshadowed by our frequent, though understandable, tendency to be unkind or uncivil to those we're communicating with.
Previously: the public domain
Next: A Million Dollar Idea
anil dash's daily links
learning from experience: http://www.dashes.com/anil/2004/06/27/learning_from_e... read more »Q Daily News
Weblogging change: Anil has a great post up today about leveraging the power and experience of weblogs to understand problems and encourage change, and in so many ways, it rings true to me. Specifically, it reminds me of the annoyance I feel... read more »WOLves
Anil Dash -- A Proposal: The actual title is, "A Proposal for a Kinder Blogoshpere" Read the whole thing, since it's actually two subjects in one. The first part is about how bloggers tend to leap on a negative and hang onto it like a read more »p-links
learning is good: http://www.dashes.com/anil/2004/06/27/learning_from_e read more »WOLves
Anil Dash -- A Proposal: *SEE update at the bottom* The actual title is, "A Proposal for a Kinder Blogosphere" Read the whole thing, since it's actually two subjects in one. The first part is about how bloggers tend to leap on a negative and read more »phil ringnalda dot com
Ah, sweet irony: A little gentle fisking of XML.com's not-well-formed Atom feed, and a question: who's actually in charge of Meerkat these days? read more »Contentious Weblog
Anil Dash's Plea for a Kinder, Gentler Blogosphere: On June 27, blogger Anil Dash (who works for Six Apart, makers of Movable Type blogging software), wrote a thoughtful discourse on how weblogs can succumb to the mob mentality – to the detriment of many... read more »Please don't eat me!
And this is absurd.: And this is absurd. Really, it's really, really stupid. Apparently these two companies say I can't link to them (one says that outright, and the other says I may... read more »clock -- watching time, the only true currency
Cleaning out the bookmarks: Bundles of links I've been collecting... read more »Geodog's MT Weblog
Mena Trott answers 6A's critics and Geodog signs off on criticism: I wasn't planning on ever writing anything about SixApart and MovableType again, but today Kris Krug sent me mail alerting me to a lengthy interview he did with Mena Trott, where she responds to some of the recent criticism of Six Apart and the MT 3.0,... read more »Radio Free Blogistan
The pitch: Anil Dash writes that noone has ever been fired for blogging. Not all of us are lucky enough to have our licenses fisked by our audience.... read more »Waxy.org
Wordpress Website's Search Engine Spam: Disclaimer. I'm hesitant to even write about this, knowing the web's fondness angry mob justice, but I feel like it's... read more »Preoccupations
del.icio.us: I was very heartened to hear from Joshua that he is committing himself full-time now to del.icio.us (quitting his job, taking on some outside investment and ensuring the continued independence of the service). That's a big step to take. read more »Cory Doctorow
FWIW, I agree with you, Anil. Heath is an old pal of mine, and I quite like FC the magazine. I tried to make sure that my post focused on the specific problem with FC embracing this policy: they are a credible source of info about the Web, they publish a good mag, they have built their fortunes upon the net.
I doubly agree about acknowledging change when it happens — one of my enduring beefs against NPR (which had an even DUMBER linking policy!) is that while they improved their policy somewhat, they left parts of it intact that still suggested that permission must be sought before a link is created. We all congradulated them on finding a clue, but failed to hold their feet to the fire until they fixed the issue.
The existence of blogging depends on permission-free linking (the existence of the Web, too, of course). I want FC and the other clueful Web orgs to help us sustain this practice, to defend it from those who would break it.
I really hope that FC steps up and does the right thing here. It would be a real leadership position for them to take.
John Dowdell
“First, read the link. Don’t go being a slashdot flameboy.”
What, are you crazy? And take all the fun out of it…!? ;-)
What you propose is logical, but there’s also a dynamic online to increase one’s social standing by stickin’ it to da man. Vociferous opposition can offer social rewards, regardless of the content of that opposition.
I agree with your proposal but suspect pile-ons will still exist, even as the percentage of rational participation increases… the creators of street litter follow a power-law distribution too, true…?
jd/mm
whatsnext
Bloggers’ pile ups have already effected positive changes in many situations include the Trent Lott debacle. They’re part of the force and the fun of blogging. But I agree that we should also note when change occurs.
I’ve been writing articles about the efficacy of adding blogging to the marketing mix for years. You can find a list of my articles on the topic by typing the word “blog” (no quotes) into the index of my newsletter, What’s Next Online http://whatsnextonline.com/wno/index.html
One of my topics during Global PR Blog Week is “Examples of smart blog use in PR and marketing campaigns and sites that cry out for blogs.” This will include many dozens of examples of successful business blogs.
Stacy
They sound like children more than anything.
David Russell
This ‘angry mob’ simply made people aware of how ludicrous and unenforceable this term was - if informing people of their rights is ‘angry mob justice’ then sign me up for the nearest mob!
Welt-Blick 
| They sound like children more than anything. |
Thats it…
peter vajada
Blogging, Incivility and Negativity
Social scientists, socioeconomists, and social psychologists are increasingly pointing to the fact that the social mood in the United States, and across the world’s culture and civilization is turning bad and that overall social mood is going to get a lot worse before improving. Research graphs and diagrams, such as the Elliot Wave Principle, underscore the finding that there is a natural ebb and flow of social mood (positive vs. negative) and that darker times, socially and politically, lie ahead of us, creating increased tension and negativity. Nowhere is this negative mood more evident than in the blogosphere where incivility, disrespect, meanness, bullying, and demeaning behavior rule the day, and the posts. What is it that accounts for this negativity among bloggers and what can be done to perhaps soothe and diminish their high degree of vitriol, rancor, meanness, incivility and disrespect?
I’ve followed the negativity of blog discussions mainly from the perspective of being curious about the nature of the interactions where the behaviors are as interesting, if not more so, than the content.
There’s no question passion drives many a blogger’s interactions. Unfortunately, passion is often used as an “excuse” (it’s never a “reason”) to treat another blogger disrespectfully or in an uncivil manner.
Curiously enough, research also points to increases in the number of heart attacks, cancer incidents, obesity rates, diabetes, suicides, spousal abuse incidents, etc. What’s the connection?
Whether it’s an increase in incivility or in life-threatening illness and disease, these statistics do not mean that I have to engage in anti-social or self-destructive behavior.
I can choose what behaviors support me to live a healthy lifestyle and which don’t. The same reasoning is true for whether I choose to be civil or uncivil, respectful or disrespectful, hurtful and harmful or compassionate and understanding in my relationships and interactions, on blogs, that is, in how I choose to show up in the world.
Shakespeare said, “An event is neither good nor bad, only thinking makes it so.” So, why is one’s “thinking” so negative? What belief systems, mental models of the world and people in the world, assumptions, misconceptions, misperceptions does one have hard-wired into their brain that bring one to reactivity, to negativity in the face of just, well, “words”?
So, with respect to how I show up in the blogosphere, the bottom line is the degree to which I am “conscious” — whether I am consciously aware of “how I am” and “who I am” while blogging, and relating to others in a blog community, or am I “unconscious”, being reactive, with no conscious thought of how I am behaving.
In our current culture in the U.S. where most folks are obsessed with ego needs for control, recognition and security, it’s no wonder that most folks’ thoughts are “killing thoughts” as opposed to “healing thoughts.” The mantra underlying most of our interactions and interrelationships is: “It’s all about me! Out of my way!”
Moreover, in a culture where many folks gain their sense of identity (“who I am”) from a direct association with their “knowledge and information” (the database in their brain), it’s no surprise that much of the incivility and reactivity on blogs comes from the perspective that: “When you disagree with my information, well, you disagree with me”, and because such disagreement is just too much of a hit to many folks’ egos, they react (fight, as opposed to flee or freeze). Agreeing to disagree and engaging in constructive dialogue are fast becoming a lost art forms in Western culture.
When folks are “unconscious” of “how they are” and “who they are”, when folks are unable or unwilling to engage in self-reflection, their tendency is to associate and behave with a herd mentality — witness the vitriol, the high-pitch ever-escalating level of disrespect, sarcasm (in the guise of “humor”), mocking, bullying, that is taking the place on blogs.
Much of the negative and disrespectful exchanges in blogs has to do with how one relates to another human being. Life is relationship — the manner in which one chooses to, consciously or unconsciously, relate to, “meet”, “see” and accept another person. What’s happening in the blogosphere is a manifestation of a blogger’s internal conflict that manifests as a failure to relate to another individual in an accepting, compassionate, respectful manner that transcends simple “exchange of knowledge and information.”
So, while the research is what it is, that does not mean one cannot consciously choose how one wants to be in relationship, is dialogue, in conversation when blogging.
So, how does one become more conscious of one’s blogging behaviors? How does one become conscious of what’s driving one’s negative blogging behavior? By consciously considering what’s underneath one’s need to be uncivil, mean, disrespectful, and demeaning.
There are two underlying drivers for much of the negative interactions on blogs. These two drivers are characterized as: (1) “It’s not about the information or content”, and (2) “It’s all about the information or content.”
- It’s not about the content
From this perspective, what is occurring is the need for an individual blogger to resort to a verbally abusive and bullying approach in an effort to make a “connection” with another person. For other bloggers, the need is to first engage, and then disengage, then engage and disengage, as in a “love-hate” relationship, in order to stay in the game.
In the arena of psychodynamics or ego psychology, this both of these behaviors are referred to as “negative merging.” In some relationships, the only way two people can “merge” or have any semblance of “connectivity” (e.g., mental, emotional,, psychological, social, etc.) is by fighting or arguing. Without the fighting or arguing, there would be no connectivity, no relating. Thus, the need to bully, argue, demean, find fault, nit-pick, etc., supports a blogger top feel engaged and “merged.” It gives the blogger a sense of “belonging”, being psychologically and emotionally connected. It really has nothing to do with the “information” being discussed or exchanged.
Rather, the negative and uncivil behavior is about connecting and needing to feel “seen” and “heard”, in other words, to feel that the blogger is actually “somebody” as opposed to being a “nobody.” Unless the blogger feels they are somebody, they feel they have no sense of value or worth. The only downside is that playing out of this need to be “seen” comes from a deeper place of anger, fear and negativity.
In “negatively merged” relationships, real and true, mature, heartfelt acceptance, approval, and satisfaction are lacking. So, the only way the two or more bloggers can experience any “false” connection at all is from this place of negative engagement, often it’s in the form of poking, being disrespectful, being uncivil, nit-picking, finding fault, etc. .
In “negative-merged” relationships, such back-and-forth behavior, and childish emotional acting out, becomes the sole source of contact between bloggers. The bottom line is that in negative-merged relationships, negative contact is better than no contact at all.
So content aside, two or more such bloggers are no different than a couple who, lacking any real heartfelt, mature, adult-level connectivity, resort to arguing and fighting over how to stack the dishes in the dishwasher, fold the laundry, or vacuum the car, or slice the turkey. At the end of the day, for negatively merged bloggers, it’s never really about the “content”. It’s about the need to be “seen” and connect when there’s no true feeling of connectedness.
Until and unless a “negative-merged” inclined blogger expands their awareness and explores what’s really “underneath” their need to be negative, uncivil and disrespectful, (i.e., by consciously exploring their limiting self-images, beliefs, preconceptions, “hard wiring” about how they view their self vis-à-vis being in the world and relating to others), there’s probably never going to be any change or transformation of that blogger’s behavior. So, they’ll fight, lick their wounds, go away and come back to fight another day on another blog, always at another’s throat, always argumentative, bickering, poking, criticizing. Why? It’s the only way they know how to “connect.”
- Content is everything.
The ego-personality is driven by one’s Inner Judge and Critic, the inner voice that continually creates drama and upset in our lives, that never allows us to truly feel at peace with ourselves. The inner judge and critic is driven by three major ego needs: control, security and recognition.
Driven consistently and relentlessly by these three needs, many of us derive our identity, that is, “who I think I am”, and “who I take myself to be” from external things, as opposed to experiencing ourselves with integrity and authenticity that arises from being in touch with our Inner Nature, our True and Real Self, from what’s “inside”.
One of the externals from which people gain a sense of their identify is their “information.” For these folks, their mantra is “I am my information.” In other words, my identity, who I am, is defined on what I have in my brain, my database. I live in my mind, and my mind defines me as a person.
Coming from this mental place, then, in a blogging environment, what happens when someone disagrees with an “information identity” blogger, is that the “information identity” blogger is unable and unwilling to see the other’s response as a simple perspective, or point of view, or as just “different from me.” Rather, the “information identity” blogger has a need to react, to become defensive and critical and take the other’s information as a personal affront and as a personal and “attack on me.”
In our culture of right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, win vs. lose, me vs. you, for many bloggers there is little to no room for acceptance of differences, i.e., “different information”. Rather, there’s more of a need for many bloggers to engage in some type of escalating “ad hominem” attack so that the “information identity” blogger can survive, live, and not lose their identity. The “information identity” blogger survives by meeting their need to “be right” in some way, shape or form.
And so when these “information identity” bloggers feel attacked because another blogger has presented “different information”, or disagreed with them, they emotionally feel out of control, insecure, and unrecognized, unseen. Their internal, unconscious reaction is: “My God, I have no identity if my information is “wrong’. I need to fight back and save my self.”
In this state of (often unconscious) reactivity characterized by anger, fear, worry, resentment, defensiveness, feeling “small”, unseen, invisible, unrecognized, unappreciated, being resistant, defensive and agitated, and feeling a loss of control, recognition or emotional security, some bloggers act out so they can feel and see themselves as big, large, as “somebody” with an identity.
”Information identity” bloggers might be surprised if they were to explore why they need to act out and sting, poke, demean and bully others, why they need to attack, defend and counter-attack, why they are so caught up in identifying with “my information.”
What happens in the blogosphere is really no different from what happens between and among individuals and couples every day, at work, at home and at play, i.e., occurrences of the same behaviors that manifest when folks allow their ego-personalities and “comparative-judgmental minds” to get in the way of a healthy relationship, a healthy dialogue, a healthy interaction. The dynamic here with the “information identity: blogger, is that they are being by their need for control, recognition and security as opposed to allowing their self to coming from one’s inner plane where one can be perfectly comfortable with who one is and where one is without needing to be right and without depending on one’s information as the source of who they are.
The poking, the disrespect, the vitriol and incivility are all about resistance, denial and projecting. It’s all about not being “consciously conscious of “Who I am” and “How I am” in relationship; so the negativity comes from one’s locking on to cruise control, being “unconscious” and simply reacting to everything happening “outside”. It’s about needing to look “outside” for what’s lacking “inside.”
While some may view ad hominem attacks, rudeness, disrespect, poking, bullying and negative behaviors as “common” in today’s discussions and relationships, they are not, neither for children nor for adults, and sometimes, in the blogosphere, it’s hard to tell the difference. Reactive elements cause mental, emotional and even physical pain, and discomfort and for the actual and lurking “ringside” participants and observers, even though they may not even be aware of it. The discord does take a toll, one way or another.
Where some lurkers would honestly and sincerely like to offer their perspectives in a safe environment, they are often wary of doing so as they don’t want to come up against bloggers whose need is to “take it personally” and who react to “different” takes and information in a negative, poking, rejecting manner. It’s the “information identity” bloggers who make many blogs unsafe for so many others who have worthy contributions to make.
So, The negativity is an attempt to fill this hole of deficiency, thinking that spending time and energy being critical, judgmental, demeaning and disrespectful of others will somehow make me feel “better” at the expense of those who I am stepping on and over in my attempts to get to the top of some ladder (financial, social professional, etc.) that will make me feel like “somebody.”
So, what can bloggers do to ensure a more inclusive, safe, mutually-respective container for adult-adult dialogue and reduce the intense degree of negativity that permeates so much of the blogosphere?
Perhaps bloggers can envision and then act to create an environment where one can notice, accept and appreciate the uniqueness of another blogger’s perspective without automatically jumping on the “me vs. you”, “right vs. wrong”, “good vs. bad” “expert vs. novice”, “intelligent vs. stupid” continuum.
Perhaps bloggers can take some time to move out of their intellectual zip code of ”It’s all about what I know.” and explore the perhaps, more foreign, landscape of non-violent communication to enhance the quality of some of their interactions, even approaching discussions with the curiosity of a “beginner’s mind”, a neutral mind.
Perhaps bloggers can take a deep breath, sense into their bodies and experience their feelings and emotions, before responding to a post and consciously ask themselves, “Why would a reasonable, rational, decent person like me consciously choose to be disrespectful, uncivil and harm another person simply because their “information” is different from my “information.”
Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see.” So, if you are engaging in uncivil, disrespectful, demeaning behaviors as a blogger, don’t wait for others to change their tone and tenor. It starts with you.
As Rumi says, “Out beyond right doing and wrong doing, there is a field; I’ll meet you there.” Come from that place in your blogs and interact from that part of yourself that is respectful, accepting, compassionate, empathic, and inclusive.
Bloggers can choose to play in that field with their colleagues; or they can choose to create and fight in a battlefield of words, of ego, hostility and lost identity. One brings happiness, collegiality, contentment and well-being; the other brings pain and suffering, mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, and spiritually.
Incivility and negativity are all about “resistance” to someone or something “out there” with which one feels uncomfortable. Incivility and negativity are all about being “unconscious” of how one is in relationship. Incivility and negativity are all about the ego’s need for control, recognition and security and being unwilling to go “inside” and explore why one needs to hurt, be verbally abusive, and disrespect another. Incivility and negativity are largely about the mantras: “I’d rather be right than happy.” Or, “I have to be somebody at the expense of being seen as a nobody.”
Life, after all, is choices. Do I choose to be reactive, hurtful, negative and uncivil? Why? Really, really, really, why?
(c) 2006, Peter Vajda, Ph.D., C.P.C. All rights in all media reserved.
—-ABOUT THE AUTHOR—- Peter Vajda, Ph.D, is co-founder of SpiritHeart, an Atlanta, GA firm specializing in coaching, counseling and facilitating. Peter’s expertise focuses on personal, business and relationship coaching. He is a professional speaker and published author. For more information about his services, email Peter at pvajda@spiritheart.net
ben
“Failed validation, 50 errors” … having things age gracefully is a challenge.
Jon Udell wrote a fine piece about backward compatibility in OS and such. I thought that a lot of what he wrote could translate onto standards; I must locate his post.
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